Establishment pharmacological research platform for "Concurrent treatment of the brain and heart" and its application on dissecting mechanism of Danhong injection / 中国中药杂志

The Concurrent treatment of the brain and heart (CTBH) theory is proposed based on traditional Chinese medical theory and clinical practice. In this study, a framework for the pharmacological research platform was established to investigate the principles of concurrent treatment of the brain and heart. The platform for CTBH includes several key techniques for network modeling, discovery of active substances, dissecting mechanism of action and investigation of pharmacokinetic property of TCM. Taking network modeling of CTBH as an example, using database search, literature mining, network construction and module analysis, the that network modules closely associated with the pathological progress of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases were identified, while further functional enrichment analysis of these modules indicated that the key biological processes included oxidative stress, metabolism and inflammation. GSK3B, NOTCH1, CDK4 were identified as key nodes in these network modules. The above-mentioned platform was applied to construct component-biomolecules network of Danhong injection for the identification of common targets and pathways. Among them, GSK3B had the highest correlation with the composition of Danhong injection in the network, and the biological function of whose cluster was related to cell oxidative stress. Based upon results of network analysis, validation experiments suggested that Danhong injection significantly improved the survival rate of oxidative injured myocardial cells and nerve cells, and the protective effect was related to the increase of phosphorylated GSK3β protein expression. Moreover, extracts of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Carthami Flos exerted the synergisticcytoprotective effect. The results indicated that the mechanism of treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases of Danhong injection could be studied through network modeling and other methods. In summary, the proposed pharmacological platform provided a feasible way for revealing the mechanism of CTBH by using modern scientific methods.

Recent advances in anti-aging study of 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside--a main component of Polygonum multiflorum / 中国中药杂志

Aging is an inevitable process of life caused by a combination of organs and tissues events which manifests as loss of structure and function. It is accompanied with organ hypofunction, decline in defense against stress and energy metabolism, and lots of age-related diseases. Therefore, it is critical to understand the mechanism of aging, as well as to discover new drugs to slow aging. Polygonum multiflorum has long been recognized in traditional Chinese medicine as anti-aging medicine. Interestingly, its extract has been shown to prolong lifespan in drosophila and elegans. Tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside (TSG), the main ingredient of P. multiflorum, shares a strong structural similarity with resveratrol, a well-known anti-aging natural product. This review summarized up-to-date literature reports and our laboratory findings on the mechanism of TSG anti-aging efficiency and function against age-related disease. It could provide reference for searching for anti-aging tradition Chinese medicine.

Caffeic acid ester fraction from Erigeron breviscapus inhibits microglial activation and provides neuroprotection / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of caffeic acid ester fraction (Caf) from Erigeron breviscapus, mainly composed of dicaffeoylquinic acids (diCQAs), on microglial activation in vitro and focal cerebral ischemia in vivo.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The production of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment in rat primary cultured microglia were measured by Griess reaction or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cell viability of cortical neurons was measured using AlamarBlue reagent. The behavioral tests and the infarct area of brain were used to evaluate the damage to central nervous system in rat middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model of cerebral ischemia. Real time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA in ischemic cerebral tissues.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Caf inhibited the production of NO, TNF-α and IL-1β induced by LPS treatment in primary microglia in a dose-dependent manner. Exposure of cortical neurons to conditioned medium from Caf-treated microglia increased neuronal cell viability (P<0.01) compared with conditioned medium from LPS-treated alone. In MCAO rat model of cerebral ischemia, Caf could significantly improve neurobehavioural performance and reduce percentage infarct volume compared with the vehicle group (P<0.05). Caf could also significantly inhibit the up-regulation of iNOS, TNF-α, and IL-1β gene expressions in ischemic cerebral tissues.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Caf could suppress microglial activation, which may be one mechanism of its neuroprotective effect against ischemia.</p>

Expression of CD123 in lymphocytic leukemia and its significance for monitoring minimal residual diseases / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of CD123 and its significance in lymphocytic leukemia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CD123 expression in 139 lymphocytic leukemia patients and in lymphocytes from 10 normal bone marrows (BM) was analyzed by multi-parameter flow cytometry. Cytogenetic and minimal residual disease (MRD) analysis were performed in acute B-lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL) patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>CD123 expression was absent in B lymphoid lineage stem-progenitor cells, mature B and T lymphocytes from 10 normal BM. Among 139 lymphocytic leukemia patients, CD123 was negative in 5 T-ALL and 23 B-CLL patients. However, among 111 B-ALL patients, CD123 was expressed in 106 (12 pro B-ALL, 57 common B-ALL and 37 Pre B-ALL) (95.49%) but not in 5 mature B-ALL patients. There was a positive correlation between CD123 and p-Akt expression, and CD123 expression was much higher in hyperdiploid than in non-hyperdiploid B-ALL patients. A statistically significant difference in relapse rate within 12 months (MRD positive group: 63.04% vs MRD negative group 21.56%)and in disease free survival (DFS) time was found beween patients with MRD\[(36.06 +/- 2.62)%\] or not \[(48.23 +/- 1.82)%\] (P < 0.01). Moreover, stable CD123 expression could be observed in B-ALL patients in relapse.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>CD123 was predominantly expressed in B-ALL patients and remained in patients in relapsec, indicating that it may be an useful MRD marker in B-ALL patients.</p>

HPLC determination of four active components in dengzhanxixin injection / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a method for determination of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, caffeoylquinic acid and ScuteIlarin in Dengzhan Xixin injection.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The HPLC method was carried out on Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 column (150 mm x 4. 6 mm, 5 pim) evaluated with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid as mobile phase, gradient elution; the flow rate was 1.0 mL x min(-1); the temperatue of column was at 35 degrees C; the detection wavelength was at 335 nm for UV detection.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.025 to 0.800 microg (r = 0.9990) for chlorogenic acid, 0.027 to 0.850 microg (r = 0.9999) for caffeic acid, 0.062 to 1.978 microg (r = 0.9997) for caffeoylquinic acid and 0.118 to 3.770 microg (r = 0.9999) for scutellarin,respectilely. The average recoveries were 97.19% with RSD 1.16%; 100.45% with RSD 1.16%; 97.32% with RSD 1.43% and 103.81% with RSD 0.70%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The assay demonstrated that the method was simple, it had adequate accuracy and selectivity to quantify the four active components in Dengzhan Xixin injection.</p>